Employers get one year reprieve from Obamacare mandate to provide health insurance (updated)

Supporters of health care reform stand in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, March 28, 2012, on the final day of arguments regarding the health care law signed by President Barack Obama. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Employers will get a one-year reprieve from providing health
insurance for their workers, as the White House retools the mandate that
critics have said is both costly and cumbersome.

The one-year delay to the health insurance mandate was
announced by the Treasury Department late Tuesday and would push the
requirement past the 2014 mid-term elections. Other aspects of the law wouldn't
be delayed.

The employer mandate requires businesses with more than 50
workers to provide health insurance for their employees or face fines of up to
$3,000 per worker. The change was supposed to go into effect Jan. 1, 2014 but
that has now been moved back to 2015.

Mark Mazur, assistant secretary for Tax Policy at the U.S.
Department of the Treasury, said the change was made as a result of meetings
with employers.

"We have heard concerns about the complexity of the
requirements and the need for more time to implement them effectively. We recognize that the vast majority of
businesses that will need to do this reporting already provide health insurance
to their workers, and we want to make sure it is easy for others to do so. We have listened to your feedback. And we are taking action," he said in a
written statement.

Mazur said the delay will give the administration time to
simplify the reporting requirements and give employers more time to adapt to
the changes.

The White House will officially issue new regulatory
guidance related to the mandate, as well as other reporting requirements that
are part of the 2010 Obamacare act, next week, Mazur said.

"If the regulations are so complex and burdensome that four
years isn't long enough to implement them, there's clearly a problem. Kicking
this can down the road only prolongs the uncertainty for businesses, and that's
bad news for the economy. I will continue to support efforts to repeal
Obamacare in its entirety, and if that doesn't work, we'll take it apart piece
by piece," she said.